Apparatus for use



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

L. KUTSGHER.

APPARATUS PoR USE 1N SECRET VOTING.

Patented 0ot..15, 1889.

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{No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. KUTSCHER.

APPARATUS EOE USE IN SECRET VOTING.

No.` 412.761. Patented Oct. 15, 1889.

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3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

L. KUTSCHBR.

APPARATUS PoR USB IN SECRET VOTING. No. 412,761.

Patented Oct. 15, 1889.

W//yesses 77@ UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

LOUIS KUTSCHER, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR USEIN SECRET VOTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 412,761, dated October 15, 1889.

Application filed J'uly 17, 1889. Serial No` 317,768. (No model.)

To all when@ it' may concern.:

Be it known that l, LOUIS KUTscIIER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Secret-Ballot Protcctors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is well understood by those who have given the subject study that the system of open balloting now in use in most of the United States is open to serious objection through liability that the will of the people may be defeated by fraud or bribery. So serious has the evil become and so great the danger of corruption of the ballot as to lead to much discussion of the subject and a universal demand for the passage of laws to insure the purity of the ballot. The three most prominent sources of corruption are, first, intimidation of voters; second, bribery of voters, and, third, fraudulent casting of votes, or, as it is commonly called, ballot-box stuffing. It is universally conceded that in order to insure purity of the ballot all ballots or tickets should be made of uniform size, color, type, and quality of paper and free from other marks. The ballots cast by a voter should be inclosed in an envelope to be sealed by the voter, the envelopes to bear no marks except the official stamp, and to be illegal if other- Wise marked, and, lastly, that secret compartments be provided having a shelf and a door, so that each voter can prepare his ballot or ballots Wholly unseen by any other person. In order to carry out this idea I have invented the novel device which I will now proceed to describe, referring by numbers to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in whichy Figure 1 is an elevation showing the door of a voting-compartment in the closed position, and also showing a small door in which an official envelope is placed when opened from the outside to receive the ballot or ballots of each individual voter, said envelope being held lirmly by said small door, but in rthe open position, so that ballots may be placed therein by the voter within the compartment when the door of the compartment is in the closed position; Fig. 2, an elevation on an enlarged scale of the inner side of the small door in the closed position, showing the envelope retained therein in position to receive the ballots of the voter; Fig. 3, a similar view in the open position, showing the envelope as seated in the socket at the base of the framework of the small door; Figs. 4 and 5, simi lar views, respectively in the open and closed positions, showing slight changes in the details of construction; Fig. 6, an elevation of the small door detached and in the closed position, showing the dial thereon 5 Fig. 7, a section on the line m J; in Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating the plan of a voting-place adapted to carry my invention into eifect.

In order that the system may be clearly understood, I will irst describe a voting-place adapted to carry it out, although it should be understood that the arrangement of the voting-place is not my invention, this special arrangement not being essential thereto, but being illustrated in order to make clear the operation of my invention.

l denotes the entrance to the voting-place; 2, railing; 8, the entrance for voters through railing; et, the registrars table 5 5, the moderators table 5 6, the ballot-box, and 7 an exit through the railingr for those who have voted. So far as my invention is concerned, however, various other arrangements may be adopted.

8 denotes compartments, each of which is provided with a shelf 9 and a door lO, each compartment being sufficiently large to receve one person at a time while he is preparing his ballots.

The essential feature of my invention consists in a small door ll, placed at a convenient height in each door and adapted to open from the outer side. This door is preferably made of metal, although wood may be used, if preferred, and is hinged to a metal framework, (denoted by 12,) which is iirmlysecured to the door by screws or in any suitable mauner, a suitable latch (denoted in this instance by 13) being placed on each small door to retain it in the locked position, so that said small door can only be opened from the outer side. In practice Ipreferably make the door to iit within the casing, as clearly shown in ICO to allow the ballots to be placed in the envelope. Near the base of the guard I preferably place a series of openings 16 through it, and upon the inner face of the door a series of prongs or projections 17, which are adapted to pass through the envelope and to register with openings 16, so that the envelope, once placed in position and the door closed upon it, cannot possibly be removed by a person within the compartment without tearing it, and can only be removed from the outer side by opening the door. It willy of course be understood that the envelope may be held in position by being pinched between the base of the guard and the doorthat is, by friction alone. I preferably, however, provide the guard with openings and the door with prongs registering therewith, y

as already described, so that the prongs must pass through the envelope, thereby preventing the possibility of its removal. It is furthermore apparent that instead of making the prongs upon the door, as in Fig. 3, prongs may be made upon an independent piece hinged upon the outer side of the frame-work, as at 10a in Figs. 4 and 5. This hinged piece may be either hinged `to swing to one side or to drop downward, as shown.

In Fig. 4 I have shown the parts in the open position. In this form the envelope is placed in the socket, as before. Piece 10a is turned up against it, the prongs passing through the envelope and engaging the openings, and then the door is closed upon piece 10, thereby locking the latter in position and locking the envelope in substantially the same way as before.

In Fig. 5 I have shown piece 10 as wholly independent of the door and as held in the locked position by turn-buttons 13. I preferably, however, employ the form illustrated in the other figures. The envelopes used for this purpose are made of strong manila paper, the dimensions thereof being ordinarily three by five inches, the flap being at the end and provided on its inner side with suitable adhesive substance, so that the envelope may be sealed by the voter after placing his ballot or ballots therein and before opening the door of the compartment. For convenience I have designated the envelope in the drawforce for upward of thirty years in Australia, l and have been adopted also in England and Ireland, Belgium, and Canada, and in this Itis of course well understood that country in Visconsin, Kentucky,and Massachusetts and that recentlyan election law of this olas has been passed in the State of Connecticut. y l

Supposing my novel invention to be in use and the voting-place to be arranged substantially as ink Fig. 8, the modus operandi' will be as follows: One voter at a time would be allowed to pass through the railing at entrance 3. At the registrars table his name would be checked in any suitable manner. At the moderators table he would be furnished with ballots and would then enter one of the compartments to prepare his ballots and place them in the envelope, or to place in the e11- velope ballots previously prepared, a certain predetermined length of Atime being allowed to each voter while in the compartme-ntsay from three to iive minutes-and a compartment being provided for each one hundred and fifty or two hundred registeredv voters. The compartments are in charge of attendants ordinarily of different political party from the moderator, each attendant having charge of a certain number of compartments for example, three or less. Before avoter enters a compartment an attendant receives from the moderatora single oicial envelope, and, opening the small door, he places the lower end of the envelope in the socket, leaving the iiap at the upper end open, as in Fig. 2, and facing inward. He then closes the small door upon the envelope, and by means of the prongs which pass through it and engage the openings locks it there, so that it cannot be removed from the inner side. The voter having prepared his ballots folds them and places them in the open end of the envelope and seals the flap. I'Ie then opens the door of the compartment and steps out. VThe attendant opens the small door and removes the envelope containing the ballots, handingr them to the voter, or allows the voter to remove the-envelope himself. The voter then either deposits the envelope in the ballot-box or lays it upon the latter, in which it is deposited by the ballot-box attendant. At the time each voter enters the compartment the attendant having that compartment in charge places the pointer upon the dial in the small door, which I have designated as 19, in position to correspond with the minute-hand of the clock in the voting-place, so that should kthe time allowed elapse he can be warned by nation of this system of voting, that ballot- IOO IIO

box stuffing is effectually prevented by the fact that each voter can deposit but one envelope, the laws being so framed that where envelopes contain more than the proper number of ballots they must be thrown out entirely and not counted, the Connecticut law providing, in substance, that each envelope be opened singly, the ballot or ballots taken out, and, if found according to law, that they be laid on the table ready for counting; if not according to law, the ballot or ballots to be reinserted in the envelope, the envelope sealed, and the reason written thereon Why the contents are rejected.

Having thus described my invention, I claim` l. A secret-ballot protector consisting of a frame-work placed in the door of a votingcompartment, a socket in said frame-work to receive the lower end of an envelope, and a door in said frame-Work closing over the envelope, so that it cannot be removed from the inner side.

2. In a device of. the class described, a frame-work having a guard upon its inner side, and openings through said guard, and a door upon said frame-work having prongs upon its inner side adapted to engage the openings in the guard, so that an envelope placed between the guard and the door cannot be removed until the door is opened.

3. In a device of the class described, a frame-work, a door acting in connection therewith and having a fastening upon the outer side and prongs upon its inner side near the lower edge, and a guard upon the inner side of the frame-work adapted to receive the envelope, and having holes near the bottom corresponding with the prongs upon the door, so that an envelope placed in the guard is locked in place, when the door is closed, by the prongs passing through it and engaging said openings.

4. In a device of the class described, a frame-work having a socket let and a guard upon its inner side, in combination with a door adapted to cover an envelope in the guard, so that it cannot be removed until the door is opened.

5. In a device of the class described, a frame-Work having a socket, and a guard upon its inner side having openin gs, and a door A. M. Woosrnn, ARLEY I. MUNsoN. 

